The Top 10 Signs That You Are An Impostor At Work

Kathy Caprino
, I cover career and personal growth, leadership and women's issues.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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I've just returned from vacationing in Cape Cod, Massachusetts with my family, a treasured annual tradition for us.It was wonderful to be able to spend quality time with my husband and kids, unplug and restore.

As I was sitting on the beach thinking about my past professional life versus my current one, I realized that for many years, being at home with my family or on vacation was literally the only time I could truly be myself. For so much of my career, I felt like an "impostor" in my work – pretending to be someone I wasn't. It all felt like theater - I wore a silly costume (my conservative suit), and played a role that wasn't natural or easy with scores of people I never really knew or trusted.

Throughout my 18-year corporate career, and particularly towards the end, I was forced to say things I didn't believe, and commit to doing things I didn't believe in. I struggled with the fear that “I should be better at this work and more of an expert at it,” and I questioned why my professional endeavors felt so uninteresting and demotivating.I wondered too, "Is it just me who feels so ill-fitted to my job?" Now I know the answer is "No!" Thousands of people feel that the work they do isn't them at all, and they don’t belong where they are.

Once you create a career or professional life that IS aligned with who you are deep down, everything changes. You can be yourself, and bring all of who you are to your work, instead of suppressing parts of your personality, values, talents, and standards of integrity in order to survive. When you’re aligned with your work and authentic in it, you have a much greater chance of succeeding and thriving than when you’re faking it.

Sure, there always will be debunkers who say that relishing your work is only for the rich, spoiled and advantaged (just check out some of the comments on this blog). But that's simply not true, and whether they know it or now, they're making excuses for their unhappiness (I know because I did this for years). Feeling proud and excited about the work you do and making the money you need and want is within your grasp if you commit the time, energy and hard work to making it a reality.

What are the top 10 signs that you feel like an impostor at work?

1. You feel alone and alienated at work, believing that no one at work really knows you, deep down.

2. You don’t trust your colleagues or peers, and avoid spending time with them.

3. The work you do feels like a struggle and a strain each and every day.

4. What you truly care about, read about and talk about in your personal life can’t be shared at work comfortably.

5. You’re constantly afraid that people will ask you questions about your role, business or responsibilities that you simply can’t answer.

6. You behave very differently outside of work, and the professional image you’ve created is not true-to-life.

7. You’ve become highly disillusioned with the leaders in charge and how they behave and communicate. (You’ve seen that they just don’t get how to motivate the workforce or bring an enterprise forward.)

8. You don’t know what you want to do for a living, but you know it’s not this.

9. People look up to you at work as a role model, but you just don’t have the energy to keep pretending that you respect the organization.

10. You fantasize every day about escaping your current work reality, but haven’t done one concrete thing to bring it about.

If any of the above describe you, it’s important to evaluate if you are pretending to be someone you are not just to stay employed at your current organization.If so, it’s time for some form of change because “faking it” is a lousy career strategy.You don’t have to chuck your entire career, job or everything you’ve worked for, but you should take a cold, hard look at how much you’re sacrificing and compromising personally to keep up this pretense.In the end, lying about who you are will fail to bring you what you hope for, and will come back around to hurt you.